Verizon picks Linux?but not Android?for mobile platform

Verizon has joined the Linux Mobile Foundation and has announced plans to ship …

Mobile carrier Verizon Wireless has joined the Linux Mobile (LiMo) Foundation and has announced plans to adopt the open source software platform. Linux-based phones will be available from Verizon next year, alongside other devices that run competing proprietary operating systems.

The LiMo Foundation is an industry group that was founded by leading handset makers. Their goal is to collaboratively develop a comprehensive Linux-based mobile software stack that can be modified easily and used at no cost on a wide range of hardware devices. Key members include Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung, and LG.

The LiMo platform includes a wide range of infrastructure components and high-level application reference implementations and is designed so that individual parts can be easily modified or replaced. The application user interface framework is built on top of GTK+, the widget toolkit used by the GNOME desktop environment. In addition to supporting native application development, LiMo will also offer a Java SDK and support for building widget-like applications in HTML and JavaScript on top of the WebKit HTML renderer. The first LiMo-based handsets will reach the market later this year.

LiMo touts its inclusive governance model and vendor neutrality as key advantages that won over Verizon. "The addition of Verizon Wireless to the LiMo roster is another critical milestone in our foundation's rapid growth and market impact," said LiMo Foundation chair Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DoCoMo. "In technical output, governance constructs and business models, LiMo lives out its belief that openness is the key to unlocking innovation to the benefit of the whole industry and mobile consumers everywhere."

Some are interpreting Verizon's adoption of the LiMo Platform as a major loss for Google, which has been trying to rally support for its own Android platform and Open Handset Alliance (OHA). It is worth noting, however, that adoption of one Linux-based platform doesn't preclude adoption of the other. Both platforms have very different technical approaches to the same problem and offer their own unique and distinctive advantages. Verizon could eventually offer a selection of handsets for each platform and allow consumers to choose.

"We are wholeheartedly endorsing LiMo's approach, and we are investing company resources, but we see the opportunity to have both the OHA and LiMo succeed and/or work together," Verizon network vice president Kyle Malady told LinuxDevices at a press conference. "LiMo is our platform of choice, but if there comes a point where we see there is benefit for our customers we will use OHA as well."

Google's Android platform offers a higher level of consistency and interoperability because its application stack is built with a single cohesive API on top of a managed code system, but it doesn't support native applications, which means that it is less flexible and existing Linux applications can't be ported to run on it. The LiMo platform will provide a wider range of development options for software developers and will likely be a bit more fragmented because handset makers and mobile carriers will have more control over the capabilities of the system on their individual devices.

Regardless of the platform choice, Verizon's adoption of Linux sends a clear message about the viability of the open source operating system in the mobile space. Carriers and handset makers seem to recognize that open source software provides them with better value and more flexibility than proprietary alternatives.